The Valor in Blood
by meli101
Summary: AU. It is the reign of the Ichorians, the pure blooded wizards. They've conquered the Mud Born and made them into slaves. Every rebellion has been defeated. Their Law states that every Mud Blood must be killed before they become a threat. One day, Hermione is rescued from slavery by a generous patron. She must learn how to survive in Ichorian society. DM/HG


Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they are property of J.K. Rowling.

A great silence permeated the air as the children trudged back to their lodgings with heavy steps. Dirt and mud caked their small faces. Brown, dirt covered rags hung loosely over their bony bodies. Pronounced collar bones were exposed to the cool night breeze. The skin on their cheeks seemed as if they would rip apart, revealing nothing but emptiness and bones, if they tried to suck their cheeks in. As they kept trudging through the moonlit fields, their eyelids became heavier. The moon shining upon their small faces created even more shadows under their eyes than they already had. Soon their eyes had become so heavy that they did not have enough strength to lift their gazes from the ground. They simply kept following the path mindlessly as if it had become instinct.

A series of black cats lined both sides of the path, following the children with their glowing eyes. The children approached tentatively. The cats began to file into the road, causing the children to stop before them. Two children stepped forward, a bigger boy with a piggish face and a smaller girl with the messiest and bushiest brown hair in the group of children.

The boy squealed, "You all know the drill. Get into formation. Let's make it quick. Now!"

The younger girl stepped forward, "Arrange yourselves into two different lines, one for girls and the other for boys. The eldest stands in front, the youngest stands in the back. The quicker we do this, the faster we can go enjoy our beds. Quickly!"

The girl with the bushy hair made her way to the end of the girls' line while examining the line of children. Once she had taken her place, the cats weaved their way between the children, sniffing and encircling them. As they surrounded them, they appeared to have been inspecting them. After the little girl on the end had been inspected, the cats walked back to the front of the formation.

All the cats leaped into the air at once. In mid jump, their faces and bodies transformed. Eyes became wider, noses grew outward and larger, and lips became fuller. Their skin became taut. Their bones pushed skin apart expanding their bodies vertically and horizontally. Shed fur and whiskers fell silently to the floor surrounding them. Claws retracted into fingernails. Their bushy tails appeared to retract into their spine, making them stand taller and prouder.

Seven women and seven men dressed in black robes stood before the children. The oldest child's height barely reached the shortest of the fourteen's waist. They stood there, conversing amongst one another. The tallest of the women with auburn color haired stepped forward. She took a notebook and quill from her robes. The notepad floated in mid-air, while the quill quickly began jotting down some notes without any verbal direction from the woman.

The children kept their gazes to the floor. The little girl with the bushy hair kept inhaling deeply, and letting the air out slowly. She allowed herself a glimpse by staring at them through her eyelashes. A man with dark, blonde hair in a ponytail kept fidgeting with his fingers as his gaze roamed over the children. She saw the woman grab her small notebook and quill from the air. Her arm extended to the side, parallel to the floor, signaling that the inspection was successful. The little girl let out a breath of relief.

The man with the ponytail stepped forward and lifted the oldest boy by his dirty garments. The girl watched from beneath her eyelashes as he reached inside his robes and pulled out a black wand. His face turned into a snarl, "You can't let these… vermin go, Berenice."

Berenice slowly turned to face him, "Drop the Mud Born boy, Scelerus."

Scelerus pointed his wand at the boy causing the boy to be hung upside down in mid-air. "Why aren't we allowed to have a bit of fun with these vermin? Did you know that, boy? Did you know that you are nothing more than filthy vermin? You infest our world, all of you. Filthy Mud Born."

The bushy haired girl gazed over at the boy, his eyes grew watery and his lips were set in a taut, thin line as if trying his best to keep any screams from escaping his mouth. She dropped her gaze to her feet. Soon, she found her brows furrowing together in frustration, her breath becoming ragged, her lips set in a thin line, and her hands curled into fists at her side.

A sudden gust of wind blew from behind her. Her eyes became enlarged in alarm as she watched the glades of grass next to her sway back and forth. As she took deep breaths, she watched the swaying of the grass come to a halt. She kept her gaze locked onto the ground before her, focusing all her attention on her breathing patterns.

She heard Berenice take a few steps closer to Scelerus. "Let him go, Scelerus. No one shall be harmed today. You know the rules our employer gave us. As long as the Mud Born seem relatively healthy and under control, none shall be harmed. If you harm one that is healthy, he will be losing profit. I don't think he'd like that one bit. Either you drop him carefully, or you risk getting the lot of us fired. Then you wouldn't be tormenting Mud Born children, but facing the wrath of thirteen full-fledged wizards and witches. Drop him. Now."

Scelerus lifted the boy higher into the air, "Are you turning into a softie for these Mud Borns? Careful, Berenice, you wouldn't want to be reported to the Ministry."

Another woman stepped from the group with her wand pointed, "Drop him , Scelerus. This slave is not our property. Let their master do with them what he will. Drop him. I will not lose my job for some new Watcher who can't control his urges."

Once again, the little girl lifted her gaze from the ground to Scelerus. His nostrils flared in and out in rapid succession. "I don't know why you defend this Mud Born scum with such vigor, but fine." He dropped the boy to the floor and grabbed him by his neck.

Scelerus spit into his face, "Get back in line, you filth of a Mud Born."

Berenice, then, stepped to the side of the road, "You may proceed."

As the children marched on the path in their formations, the little girl could overhear a deafening slap. She pushed away the sound of their small feet hitting the ground and focused on Berenice's voice.

"Next time you decide to question my authority, I will take away your wand, lift you 500 meters into the air. I will then drop you and watch you flail about like a fish without water. We shall see how well you mastered wordless or wandless incantations. Do I make myself clear, Scelerus?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now get back to patrolling, you worthless excuse for a wizard."

After walking with heavy steps for about a quarter of an hour, the children approached three colossal buildings lined up next to each other. The buildings were made of red bricks, but their roofs were loosely thatched with straw. This caused the buildings to trap heat in during the days, making it unbearably hot, but it also meant that the cold breezes swept through at night.

The children walked mindlessly into the last building. The building was one huge room that had been divided up into different sections. One area held beds that tightly cluttered together. The beds were made of splintered wood and contained no cushions. Sheets were strewn across the floor to accommodate children who did not have a bed. Another area was used for bathing. There were two stone bath tubs, one for the girls and the other for the boys. A curtain held up by strings encircled each tub, separating the bath tubs and the room from each other. The last area held the kitchen, the smallest area of the building. It held cupboards filled to the brim with food, that appeared to not be enough to accommodate everyone in the room. The corner of the room held potatoes lined up perfectly. A single, small stove stood in the corner of the kitchen. A table made of termite infested wood occupied the middle of the compact kitchen.

The girl with the bushy hair led most of the children into the lightless kitchen. As they made their way to the kitchen, they could hear bugs skittering across the floor as they lit the candles around the room, drowning everything in light. . She tried to tally up the amount of food she had counted earlier in the day to divide it up into equal rations. Her mind submerged in calculations, she mindlessly lit a candle positioned at the end of the table.

As she turned her head to the corner of the room where they kept potatoes, she found herself face to face with a one-eyed man. She fell backwards into the crowd of hungry children with a scream. His other eyelid appeared to be stitched shut. A long, jagged scar ran from his brow to the corner of his mouth. His frame appeared to be large, but everything sunk in. He had hollowed out cheeks. His fingers seemed skeletal like. As the girl kept staring at him, she noticed the fire flickering wildly, casting large shadows about the room.

Her gaze locked with the half-dazed gaze of the man's eye. The uncontrollable flickering of the fire caught his attention. He stared at it with a look of wonder. Then his eye locked with the little girl's eyes. After a few moments, he attempted to stand, but he simply fell onto the floor. The children watched as he tried to rise from the floor, but it seemed as if he had no strength left in him to stand. The little girl turned around to measure the children's reaction to the one-eyed man. Most of the children scattered into a different area of the large room. As she kept glancing around, hoping to find an older child who could handle the situation better, she noticed the cupboards opening the longer she stared at it.

As quickly as she could, she rushed to the cupboards. Her mother's sweet voice chimed in her head, '_You must never let them know. You must hide it or you will die_." When she hurried to the cupboard, her mind tried to find an excuse for her sudden movement to the cupboards. Approaching closer, she took note of the stale bread she needed to ration for the children. Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she caught him staring at her with his head cocked to one side in what appeared to be curiosity. Without contemplating her decision too much, she grabbed a piece of stale bread and quickly closed the cupboard door.

When the children caught on to what her intentions were, they began to protest.

"She can't do that!"

"That's our food!"

"Hey, we barely have enough food for ourselves."

"She'll starve us to death if she goes around giving food away like that."

"Somebody stop her!"

"We don't even know who he is. For all we know, she could be helping a criminal and the master would have our heads for this."

The children kept shouting these things to her and to each other. The bushy haired girl felt her heart beat accelerating, and as she stared at the uncontrollable flickering flame, she took in a deep breath.

"Quiet! All of you!"

The room grew silent. The fire flared a little bit stronger.

"I will do as I wish with my rations and you may do as you wish with yours."

Some little boy stepped forward, "What if he is a criminal and we are caught helping him?"

She replied to him as coolly as possible, "If he is a criminal, then I will tell our Master that I alone helped him."

Breathing in and out of her nose, she placed the bread in his hands. "Someone grab me a cup of water."

"But that's-"

"That's my ration of water. Hurry!"

The man suddenly grabbed hold of her wrist. His face took on a wild look as the shadows danced around his scarred face. "Thank you for your kindness, little girl. May I know your name?"

He quickly stuffed the stale bread into his mouth, breathing haggardly as he chewed. She looked at his face and saw him looking at the fire intently with a devious smile on his face.

"You may not."

Chewing his bread viciously and with his mouth open, crumbs found their way to the floor. He searched the floor with his good eye and located the crumbs, stuffing them into his mouth. The girl watched as he reached for the water and finished it in one gulp. Her stomach growled at her as she thought of how she would be tossing in bed at night due to her hunger.

The man laughed. His laugh sounded as if he were gasping for air. After a few moments of laughter, a croaky voice escaped his thin, dry lips, "You're a smart girl. For all you know, I could be a criminal."

"Are you a criminal?" cried an older girl approaching the kitchen.

"Do I look like a criminal to you, little girl? I'm sure if I were a criminal I would not be in need of begging children for food. I would have just stole it while none of you were here."

The bushy haired girl stared at the flame, "Then what is it you want of us? Why are you here?"

"I just need a place to stay for the night. Seemed a comfortable place as any."

'You are not allowed to be here. The Dementors come later at night. We don't want to get in trouble."

His lip tugged up a bit causing his scar to wrinkle and fold. "I shall worry about the Dementors." The girl watched as his gaze shifted to the fire, a grin forming. 'Do this favor for me and you're obvious lack of control will never escape my lips."

Her eyes nervously glanced at the flame that had been flickering uncontrollably. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she glared at him. "We must really insist that you leave. We don't want any trouble."

His laughter filled the room, "Quite courageous for a little girl, aren't ya? I tell you what, do you want to hear a story?"

"Sir-"

The older girl came over and lightly touched her shoulder. "Let him speak. He is a wizard and we have no power. We have no control. Just listen."

The little girl crossed her arms in front of her chest, a look of defiance on her face. The other children sat on the floor, while the little girl made her way to the stack of potatoes.

The one eyed man took out his wand and whispered a word she could not hear. Light began to flood the room so that even the shadows in the corners of the room disappeared.

The children's gazes were on the floor. "You do not have to stare at the floor. I will not harm you for looking at me. I am, actually, quite harmless. Now, do any of you know how the Ichorians were created?"

A few moments of silence passed as the children waited for him to answer. "Do any of you know why the Ichorians were created?"

A small memory passed through the little girl's head. Her hand shot through the air, "To rule over the Mud Born."

A smile formed on his lips, but it did not reach his eyes. "That is a fine answer, but that is not quite the truth. The Ichorians were made because the Mud Born had become corrupt. You see, there was once a god named Ouranos who held the Earth in its clutches and would not let go. The great Earth bore a son, Kronos. After being encouraged by his mother. Kronos, the god of Time, castrated and defeated his father. From that day forward, he ruled. In his reign is when the first Mud Born came forth. This was the Golden Age of Mud Born. There was happiness, joy, and peace. But Kronos grew paranoid of his children defeating him in the same manner he defeated his father. So, he decided to eat his children so that they could never rise against him. His wife, Rhea, gave birth to five children: Hades, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter and Hestia. They were all eaten alive by their father. Rhea gave birth to another child, Zeus. When Kronos came to take their child away, she dressed a stone up in baby's clothing. Kronos could not tell that it was a stone in baby's clothing and not his son.

Through the years Zeus grew to be big and strong like his father. He rescued his brothers and sisters from the pit of his father's stomach. When Zeus defeated his father in the Titan Wars, he established himself as King of the Gods. The King of the Gods wished to be like his father so he created a new race of Mud Born. He created the Silver Age of Mud Born. These Mud Born were not as smart and did not pay proper worship to the gods. Stricken with disappointment, Zeus destroyed them. From the ashes was born a new set of Mud Born, the Bronze Age of Mud Born. This new set caused strife to one another and practiced cannibalism. After Zeus had learned of their cannibalism, he decided to flood the world to be rid of them. From the stones of the Earth, the Age of Heroes came forth. Children were borne from Mud Born and the divine. Yet, even this age of Mud Born disappointed Zeus, so he eventually brought in a new set of Mud Born. That brings us to the current set of Mud Born. The Iron Age of Mud Born. This is the worst period of all. These Mud Born caused nothing but war and misery to one another. They were doing such a good job at destroying one another that Zeus did not feel as though he had to destroy this age of Mud Born.

Now, Zeus didn't realize there was another plan set into action. There were older gods and goddesses who did not owe their loyalty to Zeus or the Olympians. There was a goddess who had power over the Sky, the Earth, the Sea, and the Underworld. The people worshipped and loved her for she honored and protected those who paid tribute to her. Yet, all those she loved and protected were destroyed by Zeus as he kept creating new Mud Born and ridding the world of the old Mud Born. Eventually, the Mud Born became more violent and less respectful of the deities. When she began to lose followers, she lost faith in Zeus and his creations. Our Lady Hekate, goddess of the Crossroads and patron of Witchcraft and Wizardry, decided to create a new creature that could walk the Earth beside the Mud Born.

There was a nymph, who was the most beloved of Hekate. Her name was Circe, daughter of Helios, the Sun God, and Perses, a water nymph. Circe had often followed and worshipped Hekate as a child. She often tried to imitate Hekate and perform simple spells, but she could not. When Zeus destroyed the Bronze Age of Mud Born, she was approached by Hekate. Hekate asked Circe if she would like to have the same powers and knowledge. Circe couldn't have responded with more enthusiasm. After Circe said yes, Hekate broke a small branch from a nearby tree. She cut Circe on the chest above her heart three times. Hekate then held out three of her fingers and made one small incision on each of them. Golden blood flowed from her fingers. The blood of a goddess, ichor. She placed one finger on each of Circe's cuts. Sanguis meus sanguis tuus est. My blood is your blood. Her blood created the first generation of Ichorians. After this binding spell, Hekate taught Circe as much as she could before setting out to tend to her duties. As a gift, she bestowed the branch to Circe, who used it in her spell casting. That became the first wand known to the Ichorian society. Later, Circe-"

The lit candles around the room began to flicker. The building was both being devoid of light and bathed in light. The little girl looked at the man sitting at the table, a word stuck on the tip of his tongue. His good eye seemed to grow big. "Dementors, "he whispered to himself.

For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence. Then there was chaos. Children gathered themselves from the ground and ran to their beds or sheets on the floor. Many crashed into each other in their haste. A couple of children approached the bushy haired girl.

"Hermione, what should we do?"

"'Mione, wha sha' we do abou' him?"

Hermione turned towards the man, who positioned himself underneath the table with his eye closed. "Get everyone into their beds, now! We still have a minute or two before they come." She turned to the man, "You need to either hide or leave within the next few minutes. Hide yourself in the stove. Don't make a sound. Understood, sir?"

"Thank you, Hermione. I shall be in your debt if you ever need it. Just remember Mad Eye. I shall be gone before you children wake up."

As he stood up from underneath the table, Hermione could see his fragile body shaking with what she assumed was fear.

She turned her body to run towards her bed, but Mad Eye grabbed her wrist without warning. His good eye locked with hers.

"I know what you are. One eye may be gone, but you can't hide it. Just remember, you must always be in control of yourself, or else it will be in control of you. Your life may depend on it one day."

The candle light grew dimmer and dimmer. The shadows of children running to their beds skittered across the walls. Hermione ran to her assigned sleeping area, jumping over the children who were already lying on their sheets. As the light completely gave out, she jumped into her bed.

The moonlight seeped in through the thatched roof, illuminating the shadows floating through the room. A few of the Dementors passed by her, the air becoming icier by the second. Hermione did her best to ignore their presence. She had only one thing on her mind, Mad Eye's words. _You can't hide it. Always be in control of yourself or else it will be in control of you. Your life may depend on it._

_**A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the prologue. As always, your feedback is much appreciated. Let me know what you thought, what you lied, what you didn't like, what was or wasn't working. This will be a pretty long project, so I hope you stick around for the journey. Title is tentative.**_

_**Love, **_

_**Meli101**_


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